Sunday, 10:01 a.m. – Grand Prix Charlotte Undefeated Deck Lists

by Adam Styborski

What do the undefeated decks from Day 1 look like? While the Sealed Deck Trials painted a picture of Orzhov dominance, the breakdown from Grand Prix Charlotte proper looks a little different with four Boros, two Orzhov, one Simic, one Gruul, and three-color Boros/Orzhov deck. See for yourself below.

One week ago, Pro Tour Gatecrash brought Gatecrash Booster Draft to the forefront of Magic. Starting each day with draft reinforced how important Limited skills need to be among the top players in the world. Getting to see how they handled the format changed how the rest of us would understand it.

Several players here in Charlotte took notice to the shift.

James Searles, who went undefeated on Day 1, felt that going in he "didn't really like it. It seemed like more forced guilds than Return to Ravnica was, so you didn't have as many options." While James wasn't a competitor at Pro Tour Gatecrash he did help others, such as Top 8 player Melissa DeTora, and that "by the end of preparing it came together pretty good."

You want to know what you're doing.

James went on to explain what was different today. "After the Pro Tour, I felt like once people knew what they were doing the format actually got better. Once people have experience in the format it lets me take advantage of that, because lot of people overdraft Boros." In Charlotte "it still feels like they're doing the same thing, and they feel Boros is still good because they were able to win a few rounds at the Pro Tour. More people are trying to play Madcap Skills than they were before."

Brian Braun-Duin, a player who's seen ample success at StarCityGames's Open events, had a more discrete view of the format going into the Pro Tour. "The best guilds seemed to be the red guilds. Basically, Gruul and Boros seemed to be the strongest. Bloodrush, just in theory, seemed to be the best Limited ability, and Boros was just the most aggressive and powerful two drops in the set."

Not all guilds are created equal.

But that all changed after the Pro Tour. "Gruul's not nearly as good as I thought near the beginning," Brian explained, "and Orzhov has come out as the dominant guild. I basically underrated extort. I didn't realize how good that mechanic was. The thing that Orzhov has is that every spell now just drains your opponent. It just lets you win every racing situation."

Ryan Bognar, another stellar player with near misses at Grands Prix, won a Pro Tour Qualifier to attend last week's showdown in Montreal. He spent his time preparing with other excellent players, and that experience shaped his perspective on Gatecrash draft going in. "It's really dependent upon who you're drafting with. The power level of the set overall is very weak but it's a very fast format at the same time, so you really get punished for drafting three colors. Going into the Pro Tour we were joking that the best way to evaluate a deck was the number of two drops you have. If you have those two drops you're not going to get so far behind you're not able to play the game. If you get too far behind, you're forced to me unprofitable trades. You'd have to take the 2/1 bloodrush guy (Skinbrand Goblin) over Foundry Champion since you're never going to play him in the format."

Two colors are better than three.

What did Ryan learn from the Pro Tour? "You really have to be two colors, for the most part. There's an Esper (white-blue-black) deck that can get away without being two colors since it has so much removal it can stall the game out." Looking at the Grand Prix, he felt that "people draft fairly differently. You're able to get more playables from Day 2 of a Grand Prix than you would at a Pro Tour, and so you're able to draft more traditional archetypes. I'm playing Simic because I noticed it was the most open at the table. Although I'd be really upset playing Simic at the Pro Tour, I'm not at all upset playing it here."

Ryan's biggest takeaway was this: "It's really good to talk to people better than you, and understand how they're attacked the draft format. That really helped me, and coming into today it really solidified how I was going to draft."

Sunday, 2:32 p.m. – Drafting with William Jensen

by Steve Sadin

After a nearly ten year break from professional Magic, 4 time Pro Tour Top 8 competitor William Jensen decided that he wanted to make a comeback. Fortunately for the veteran, quite a few of his friends (and former teammates) have also made comebacks recently – allowing him to work with Team StarCityGames, or Team ChannelFireball whenever he's preparing for an event.

After 11 rounds of Sealed play, Jensen entered the first draft with a 9-2 record – and in need of an undefeated run to make the Top 8.

William then got passed a pack with Warmind Infantry, Smite, Wasteland Viper, and Bane Alley Broker. After looking at the Smite for a few moments, he decided to take the Warmind Infantry. "Even though Smite is white, it's actually an Orzhov card. You never want to play Smite in good Boros decks. So I wasn't really choosing between a white card, or a red card – I was actually choosing between an Orzhov card and a Boros card, and I would prefer to play a Boros deck."

The third pack that Jensen looked at was fairly abysmal for him, and he wound up taking a Shambleshark over the extremely replaceable Knight Watch. With his fourth pick, Jensen took a basilica Guards over a Legion Loyalist. He then followed that up with a 5th pick Treasury Thrull that caused him to lean heavily towards Orzhov.

The remainder of the pack was fairly uneventful – with William grabbing an Armored Transport, a Corpse Blockade, and a Balustrade Spy to round things out. The most noteworthy thing for William was that there was still a Darkewing Krasis in the pack 8th pick – but with no other Simic cards (save for his one Shambleshark) he didn't feel any strong compulsion to take it over an on-color Balustrade Spy.

Pack Two

Jensen quickly first picked a Grisly Spectacle, then took an Assault Griffin over the costly Lumintae Primordial, and a Deathcult Rogue over a (second) Assault Griffin. After the draft, Jensen explained that he felt like he was committed to Orzhov at this point. If he had tried to switch colors from here, then he felt that it would have been difficult for him to get enough playable cards to build a good deck with.

An Orzhov Guildgate, and a Gift Orzhova were the next two cards to join Jensen's deck before he counterdrafted a Simic Charm out of an otherwise weak pack.

A 7th pick Smite was a welcome addition for William, but the only other relevant card he managed to pick up in the latter half of the pack (while passing a lot of extremely strong Simic cards late) was a Vizkopa Confessor.

Pack Three

After first picking his second Grisly Spectacle, Jensen decided to take a second Gift of Orzhova over a Basilica Guards – later explaining that "I didn't think my deck was going to be that good, so I figured I would be able to steal some games with my two Gifts."

The Build

After laying out 19 cards that he knew he was happy to play with – Jensen still needed to scrape a bit to get enough playables. He quickly searched through the rest of his cards, added a Midnight Recovery, a Corpse Blockade, and a Purge the Profane and set to work filling out his decklist.

After he finished filling out his decklist, Jensen took a minute to talk about what could have been: "I'm convinced that if I had drafted Simic I would have had an amazing deck. I don't think it's correct, but I wish I had taken that Crocanura first pick."

When asked to elaborate on why he didn't think it was right to take the Crocanura, Jensen explained that he didn't want to get into a situation where he was fighting to get his hands on the relatively shallow Simic cards. "Part of the reason why I didn't try to draft Simic early is because Ben Stark was sitting to my right in the draft, and I know he doesn't mind drafting Simic. There are plenty of players who just won't draft the deck – but I know that Ben isn't one of them."

In 2004, William Jensen and Ben Stark were commonly considered to be two of the best players in the world. But by 2005, they had both stepped away from the game.

A few years after that, Ben Stark began to make a comeback. And while it took Stark a little while to get himself to a point where he was qualified for every Pro Tour, once he began working with Team ChannelFireball it didn't take him long to become a Pro Tour Champion.

William Jensen is just now beginning his comeback – and while he doesn't have an invitation to Pro Tour Dragon's Maze yet, if he can win his next few matches today he'll be able to re-qualify for the Pro Tour.

Game One

Stark mulliganed and kept a six card hand without any Forests – while Jensen opened with a Deathcult Rogue, then simply shrugged before casting a Gift of Orzhova to make his lone creature into a 3/3 lifelink flier.

Stark had a Homing Lightning (his first spell of the game) to deal with the 3/3 flier. This left Jensen, who was stuck on 3 lands, with an empty board and a hand full of spells that he didn't have the mana to cast. Meanwhile, Stark, who had only Mountains, was able to build up his board with a Cinder Elemental, followed by an Ember Beast.

Basilica Guards, a Grisly Spectacle, and a pair of Death's Approaches bought Jensen a couple of turns – but with Jensen lacking any meaningful way to apply pressure, it didn't take long for Domri Rade to give Stark the creatures he needed to take the first game.

A well timed Smite and a Death's Approach bought Jensen some time – but eventually he ran out of spells and succumbed to the power of Stark's Domri Rade fueled army.

Ben Stark 2 – William Jensen 1

Sunday, 6:02 p.m. – Drafting with Patrick Sullivan

by Steve Sadin

Booster Draft, unlike Sealed Deck, is dynamic. No two drafts will ever be the same, and that's what makes following players like Patrick Sullivan compelling, who was still undefeated on the day. Players like him have a plan, but they are at the same whims any of us face while drafting.

This is how Patrick Sullivan handled his second Gatecrash draft of the day.

Pack 1

Sullivan, known for aggression, opened Foundry Champion as his rare. He didn't hesitate in taking it before looking for the rest of the pack. It was clear his plan was the same as before, Boros. "That card is just off-the-rails good. I mean, I like to open on a straight white card because Orzhov is good too, but that card is just on a whole another level."

Patrick Sullivan

Firefist Striker and Ember Beast were solid picks behind it, but after Boros Guildgate, Armored Transport, Angelic Edict, and Towering Thunderfist things slowed down. Sullivan explained that this pack one "felt like a replay of the first draft. I felt like I had some good pieces, but I only got to seven playables which isn't on pace to hit 23. I felt like there was enough Boros coming in pack one that I wasn't terribly worried but it wasn't exactly where I wanted to be."

Late in pack one several solid Orzhov cards were passing through, like Kingpin's Pet. When asked if he ever thought of switching, "Not with Foundry Champion. I felt like I cut Boros very hard, so even if pack three wasn't good to me if I have a Foundry Champion and a good pack two it's a fine recipe."

Pack 2

Without an on-color rare to consider, Sullivan quickly pulled Syndic of Tithes as his second first pick. But his second gave him pause: both Hellraiser Goblin and Burning-Tree Emissary were choices Sullivan considered. "The Emissary is a little awkward in my deck. I was just mulling it over because, generally the Goblin's quite bad but there are decks where it fits. I think if you have a reasonable amount of removal or combat tricks that card can be okay, but my deck was just very creature-centric. I was just going over in my head if this wasn't one of the rare decks where you'd want the Goblin."

A Daring Skyjek later and Sullivan faced another decision, this time between Ember Beast and Bomber Corps. He chose the Ember Beast because "Ember Beast is just a much better card. Both cards are basically asking the same requirements, which is how you need a bunch of creatures for either to be very good" referring to how you need other creatures to attack alongside. "If I'm really short of twos, especially already having an Ember Beast, there are situations where I'd take the Bomber."

After taking Warmind Infantry between two copies of Ground Assault, a removal spell a red deck might splash for, Sullivan looked at a pack with Wojek Halberdiers, Boros Elite, and Warmind Infantry. What was going through his head? "I was so frustrated because the second pack was going poorly for me I felt overall, then when that card's in the pack that late it means Boros was open and the packs broke poorly for me. Obviously I'm happier to have that guy," referring to Wojek Halberdiers he settled on, "but given the picks I had in pack two it was frustrating to see that guy so late."

Pack 3

Without a rare to choose, Sullivan had to decide between a second Firefist Striker or Daring Skyjek. He eventually settled on the Striker. "I haven't actually had that pick come up before, which is weird because of how much I've drafted the archetype. I was just trying to play out in my head which one I thought was better. I think the Firefist Striker is just very, very powerful. It's one of the better Boros uncommons."

A second Foundry Champion greeted Sullivan for his second pick, but he didn't take it right away. As he explained, "At that point I'm just committed to playing 18 lands. I'm a little more top-heavy than I like, and I've never played an 18 lands Boros deck before. Obviously the card's awesome and I'm happy to have it. I want the slow roll there because Ben," referring to Ben Stark, who was passing to Sullivan, "doesn't know for sure if I'm Boros. If I just slam the Foundry Champion it might influence how he drafts. He might be more apt to pick the Boros cards instead of randomly the best card in the pack"

Immediately in the third pick, another tough choice appeared. Both Massive Raid and Aerial Maneuver were on color, but Sullivan settled on the burn spell. "In general, I prefer Aerial Maneuver because I feel Massive Raid is pretty mediocre. But because my deck was very creature heavy at the point, and my deck's a little bit on the slower side because I'm going to play Foundry Champion, I'd rather have a little bit more removal because I'm anticipating the game going a little bit longer than it normally does in my Boros decks."

The Deck

Sullivan settled on an 18 land deck, but Hold the Gates was a surprising contender. "I was definitely straining at the end, debating between 17 and 18 lands. I almost played Hold the Gates because I have a bunch of creatures it's actually pretty good with," indicating Warmind Infantry and Ember Beast, "but that would have been my 23rd card. Because of the two Foundry Champions I just erred on the side of playing 18 lands."

Grand Prix Charlotte has been a huge tournament. And while it's easy for the coverage staff to focus exclusively on what's taking place at the very top of the standings, it's important to keep in mind that there have been literally thousands of interesting matches that we could have looked at this weekend.

With this in mind, in Round 16 I decided to take a look at a match between Pro Tour Dark Ascension competitor Daniel Novak, and old school pro Andrew Cuneo as they attempt to stay in contention for a Top 16 finish.

After the dust settled, Novak played a Frilled Oculus onto the empty board, while Cuneo tapped out for a Debtor's Pulpit. Novak took advantage of the fact that Cuneo didn't have access to his Debtor's Pulpit yet by casting and cyphering a Last Thoughts.

Ohio native Daniel Novak has come just a few games short of returning to the Pro Tour multiple times since Pro Tour Dark Ascension.

A Kingpin's Pet gave Cuneo his first on board lead of the game, but a Simic Manipulator a half a turn later put him into a very tight spot.

A Zarichi Tiger gave Cuneo a tool that he could use to set up a grindy extort based victory – however a Drakewing Krasis, followed by another Drakewing Krasis a turn later gave Novak a very impressive air force that would force Cuneo to act sooner than he might have wanted to.

After falling to 6, Cuneo was able to take control of the game with Executioner's Swing, Nightveil Specter, a Frontline Medic, and a Kingpin's Pet. And when Novak's draw steps began yielding him nothing but lands, it didn't take long for Cuneo to secure the match.